Former Trump adviser says Putin will walk out of Alaska summit as a 'loser'
Robert O'Brien, who served as a national security adviser in President Donald Trump 's first administration, spoke with CNN 's Jessica Dean on Saturday about the president's upcoming meeting with Putin to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine.
Just the fact that Putin is willing to come to the table to eek out a deal with Trump shows how the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, which began back in February 2022, has been a 'total failure,' O'Brien argued.
'He wanted all the territory of Ukraine and he wanted 30 million Ukrainians and he wanted to turn them into Russians,' O'Brien said of Putin's goals with the invasion.
'And now he's getting stuck with basically the same deal he had when [former President Barack] Obama let him take Crimea and Donetsk and Luhansk. He's made no real progress,' the former adviser continued. 'This is not a victory for Putin.
'He's had this [deal] and he's now lost a million men in four years, basically getting what he had in 2014 from Obama.
'So I think it's a total failure for Putin,' he said.
'But Trump will let him save face,' O'Brien claimed. 'He's very gracious, he's very charming, but Putin's gonna walk of of this [the] loser.'
Robert O'Brien told CNN's Jessica Dean on Saturday that the fact that Putin is willing to come to the table to eek out a deal with Trump shows how the Russian military invasion of Ukraine , has been a 'total failure'
O'Brien, who is now chairman of American Global Strategies LLC, also argued that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky does not need to be present at the upcoming summit in Alaska, as the White House considers inviting him.
'Yes, the matter can't be resolved without Ukraine, but President Trump has met with Zelensky alone several times, including at the Vatican,' O'Brien said.
'And so he's put himself in the position to mediate this dispute, which is what President Trump really wants.
'He's a peacemaker,' O'Brien claimed. 'He wants the military deaths to stop and he wants to get this case resolved.'
But the former adviser also noted that Zelensky will likely have to agree to cede some land, as Putin does not seem to want to budge on his demand for control of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, Kherson and Crimea.
'And so look, if Ukraine gives up nothing more than the Russian-speaking territories of Ukraine and Crimea, which was historically Russian to begin with, that's a win for Ukraine.'
However, Zelensky has been adamant that his country will not cede land in the negotiations.
'Of course we will not give Russia any awards for what it has done,' he said Saturday morning. 'The Ukrainian people deserve peace.'
He had also warned that 'decisions without Ukraine' would not bring peace to the region.
Writing on social media the Ukrainian President said: 'Any decisions against us, any decisions without Ukraine, are also decisions against peace. They will achieve nothing.
'Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier.'
He said Ukraine was 'ready for real decisions that can bring peace' but said it should be a 'dignified peace', without giving any details.
Reflecting on the upcoming meeting, President Trump has admitted 'it's very complicated.'
The president has long wanted to end the war in Ukraine, often promising on the campaign trail last year that he would end the conflict on day one of his presidency if he were elected.
Trump's frustration with Putin has grown as the fighting has worn on months into his second term.
In late July, he began to turn the heat up on Russia, saying he was giving the country 10 or 12 days to restart peace talks with Ukraine.
If that condition was not met, he said he was prepared to hit Russia with economic sanctions.
Originally, Trump gave Putin a 50-day deadline and threatened to bring stiff economic penalties on Russia if it did not end hostilities with Ukraine. That would've meant a target date of early September for Putin to make a decision.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
26 minutes ago
- The Independent
Ukrainians left disappointed at Trump rolling out red carpet for ‘tyrant' Putin
Ukrainians have reacted with anger to the welcome received by Russian president Vladimir Putin as he arrived in Alaska for a summit with his US counterpart Donald Trump on Friday (15 Aug). Trump failed to secure assurances from Putin to an end to Russia's conflict with Ukraine, despite describing the meeting as 'great progress'. However, residents in Kyiv were less enthusiastic. 'I was hoping that the U.S. wouldn't roll out the red carpet for an enemy. How can you welcome a tyrant like this?' said Natalya Lypei, 66, who lost her son during the war. Another, 60-year-old Natalya Cucil, said: 'There are no results. I am very surprised that Trump, the leader of a country that acts as an international police force and is always trying to maintain order in the world, meets with a terrorist who is wanted by the whole world.'
Daily Mail
26 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
MSNBC host makes brazen jab at Karoline Leavitt's appearance during Putin summit
MSNBC host Antonia Hylton suggested that Karoline Leavitt looked 'ashen' and 'terrified' after witnessing the Donald Trump-Vladimir Putin meeting in Alaska. On Saturday night's episode of MSNBC's The Weekend: Primetime, Hylton discussed Friday's summit with guest former US Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul. Hylton claimed that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, 27, appeared to be scared of what she had seen 'behind closed doors' as she emerged from Trump's meeting with the Russian president. The journalist then hit out at Leavitt's appearance, describing her skin as pale and gray after accompanying the president on the high-stakes summit. 'A lot of the press corps that was there, they reported in the minutes and hours after the presser that they saw members of the administration, like Karoline Leavitt, look ashen, almost frightened after what they had seen behind closed doors,' Hylton said. 'What did that indicate to you?' she asked McFaul - an Obama appointee. 'We should all be glad that we did not go to Alaska,' McFaul responded, adding that Leavitt's appearance after the meeting 'suggests to me that this was a bigger disaster than they're leading on to.' Hylton, 31, hosts the MSNBC show alongside Elize Jordan, Ayman Mohyeldin and Catherine Rampell. It airs on Saturdays and Sundays from 6pm to 9pm. The co-hosts' discussion came after Putin and Trump met on Friday in Alaska to discuss Russia's war with Ukraine. While Trump claims to have made 'a lot of progress' and said the summit was a '10 out of 10,' the meeting has been considered by many to have been a large failure for America. Trump succumbed to Putin by adopting the Russian position that moves should concentrate on a final peace deal, which will likely take months or years, instead of a ceasefire. The president also backed away from threats to impose tough new sanctions on Russia and expand secondary sanctions on countries that purchase oil from the nation. Days before the summit, Leavitt played cleanup for Trump who falsely claimed twice that he was preparing to go to Russia to visit Putin. 'Perhaps there are plans in the future to travel to Russia and on Friday the president will be meeting with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska, as you know,' she said during the White House press briefing on Monday. Trump, however, specifically mentioned during his press conference that he would be traveling to Russia: 'You know, I'm going to see Putin. I'm going to Russia on Friday,' Trump said in what was widely assumed to be a verbal slip. Then he did it again.
BBC News
26 minutes ago
- BBC News
Sally Rooney says she will support Palestine Action despite ban
Author Sally Rooney says she will continue to support Palestine Action, despite the group being proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the award-winning Irish novelist said she intends to use the earnings of her work and her public platform to "go on supporting Palestine Action and direct action against genocide".Writing in the Irish Times, she said "if this makes me a supporter of terror under UK law, so be it".Her remarks come as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper again defended the proscription of Palestine Action, saying it is more than "a regular protest group known for occasional stunts". Palestine Action is a British pro-Palestinian direct action group that was proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the government in activities have predominantly targeted arms companies since the start of the current war in Gaza. After mass arrests, what happens next with Palestine Action ban?Palestine Action can challenge UK ban, court rulesBring sick and injured children to UK from Gaza immediately, MPs say Rooney, who wrote bestsellers including Normal People and Intermezzo, has previously been a vocal backer of the protest group, writing in the Guardian in June that proscribing them would be an "alarming attack on free speech".She was speaking after some of its members broke into RAF Brize Norton and sprayed two planes with red paint, causing damages worth £ in 2021, she refused to allow Beautiful World, Where Are You to be translated into Hebrew in a move to boycott Israel over its policies towards her latest Irish Times opinion piece, she said she will continue to use the proceeds of her work - including residuals from a BBC co-production of Normal People and Conversations with Friends - to keep supporting the than 700 people have been arrested since the group was banned by the government on 5 July - including more than 500 at a demonstration in central London last writing in the Observer on Sunday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said while many were aware of the Brize Norton incident, fewer would be aware of other incidents for which the group had claimed example, in August 2024 alleged Palestine Action supporters broke into Elbit Systems UK in Bristol, an Israeli defence firm that has long been a key allegations are due to come to trial in November. Eighteen people deny charges including criminal damage, assault causing actual bodily harm, violent disorder and aggravated has also referenced a so-called "Underground Manual" from the group, which she said "provides practical guidance on how to identify targets to attack and how to evade law enforcement"."These are not the actions of a legitimate protest group," Cooper also said she had received "disturbing information" which "covered ideas and planning for future attacks".Rooney - who lives in the west of Ireland - wrote: "The present UK government has willingly stripped its own citizens of basic rights and freedoms, including the right to express and read dissenting opinions, in order to protect its relationship with Israel."She said "the ramifications for cultural and intellectual life in the UK... are and will be profound".The BBC and Rooney's management have been contacted for comment. Israel has long rejected accusations of genocide, but leading Israeli and global human rights organisations have argued that the country's conduct in the war in Gaza constitutes genocide against the Palestinian war was triggered by Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 others taken offensive has since killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to figures from the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, which the UN considers reliable.
